


four hands and then away

by viscrael



Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Misgendering, Nonbinary Character, Other, nez and inu r adoptive siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4840937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viscrael/pseuds/viscrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s—<em>god</em>, she’s <em>great</em> and Inukashi feels so fucking <em>stupid</em> for thinking about her like that, but, also, they’ve not been doing much of anything besides thinking about her for a while and <em>shit they’re screwed.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	four hands and then away

**Author's Note:**

> i cant believe i wrote this. they ltierally dont even meet in canon b u t i a m apparently a sucker for impossible pairings so heRE
> 
> tw for misgendering at the very beginning

Inukashi doesn’t go to parties. They don’t like them. They hate being around people, and they hate crowds, and they hate loud music, and they hate alcohol, so they hate parties. That’s evident.

It’s also evident to anyone that cares that they are, as Nezumi so graciously put it, “susceptible to Shion’s charm,” which is another way for him to say that Inukashi likes being around Shion and therefore _occasionally_ does stuff for him, if he begs enough, like agree to go places. Places, sadly, like parties.

Which is how they end up standing awkwardly at the back of some douchebag’s house, holding a cup of something that they’re pretty sure is spiked. The last showing of the play Nezumi had been in was earlier that night, and they’d held an after party in celebration, that Shion insisted they go to, to “support Nezumi,” as if the bastard cared if Inukashi went or not. Either way, they’re here now, and Shion has run off somewhere with Nezumi and they’re _alone_ and it’s _uncomfortable_ and literally all they want is to go home and _not be here_.

Someone they vaguely recognize from the stage crew bumps into them and starts talking a mile a minute, some shit or another about, “Oh, you’re here for Nezumi, right?”

They glare, hoping to get across the mental message of _leave me alone_ , but the girl keeps talking. She’s obviously drunk. “You must be his sister!”

Their eye twitches, and they feel themself break their self-imposed vow of silence. “Like hell I am!” They shove past her.

She makes some comment to them as they push past another throng of people. They sigh, realizing they’ve lost their hiding spot, and reluctantly make their way to the kitchen. “So much for that.”

It’s either very good luck or very bad luck that they happen across Shion, Nezumi, and Shion’s friend, Safu. They’re standing in the kitchen around the isle, talking about something or another. Nezumi has his hand around Shion’s waist. They roll their eyes, shoving past the three, when Shion spots them.

“Inukashi!” His face lights up. He’s not drunk, but he’s in much too good a mood for Inukashi right now. They grumble a halfhearted response, but he only smiles wider and waves them over. “Come talk with us!”

They do so reluctantly, if only for the chance to yell at their brother. “Nezumi, what the fuck!”

He gives them a look, clearly not understanding what they’re so upset about.

“You’ve been telling people I’m your sister, asshole!”

Shion looks at his boyfriend. “Have you?”

Nezumi raises his hands. “I’ve said ‘sibling.’ Why, did someone say something to you?”

They glare. “Liar. Some girl called me your sister.”

“She was making assumptions then.”

“Yeah, right!”

Safu looks confused at the conversation, just a little. She turns to Inukashi. “You two are siblings?”

“Adopted,” they mumble, and try to be subtle in the way they refuse to meet her eyes. “And this _asshole_ has been going around _telling_ people—“

“I’m telling the truth, I haven’t, but if you want to keep believing I’m lying, then be my guest.” Someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns around, and the conversation is over. Inukashi growls, still pissed off.

Shion tries to smile at them, placating. “I’m sure that girl just didn’t realize…”

They frown and start to turn away. “Whatever.”

“Oh, but, wait, Inukashi!” He grabs their forearm hesitantly to keep them from leaving.

“What?”

“Nezumi and I were just about to…” His eyes are trained on the wall behind them, and he looks around until he waves Safu over, from where she’d been getting another drink. “We have stuff to do, but why don’t you stay here with Safu? You didn’t seem very happy by yourself earlier.”

_I’m not going to be any happier here with her, either_. They scowl at him, ignoring the way they know they’re blushing, and open their mouth to bark out a “fuck no,” when they see her look at them. She catches their eye. Their mouth snaps shut.

She smiles, hesitant and a bit awkward like she isn’t quite sure what to do in this situation, and they sigh. “Fine,” they answer stiffly. “Whatever.”

His face breaks into a well-meaning grin. “Great! I’ll call you when it’s time to go, so keep your phone on, okay?” Then he’s gone, disappeared back in between a group of people, presumably after Nezumi.

Inukashi swears, and glances at Safu on his right. She’s shifting where she stands, hands fidgeting on the cup she’s holding, which they doubt she’s even drunken from yet.

“So, you and Nezumi live together?” She asks, turning to them. They make eye contact for a full two seconds before they will their eyes away. She’s pretty, with brown hair and dimples.

“Unfortunately.” They look away. Why the _fuck_ are they so nervous?

She doesn’t laugh at the response, but she smiles a little. “You don’t enjoy spending so much time with him? He seems like he’d be a bit of a handful.”

“Yeah, a bit of an asshole too.”

She laughs at that, stifling it into her hand and _why the fuck was that so pretty_? They swallow thickly and try not to stare.

“You’re—you’re friends with Shion.” They cringe. That definitely didn’t come out as a question. _God_ , they hate talking to people, this is the _worst_.

“I am,” Safu nods. “He talks about you.”

“He does?”

“Just a little.” She smiles. “He seems fond of you, though. He says you’re a good friend.”

“Y-yeah, he, uh, talks about you too. Sometimes.” They flush.

“Oh? Would he mind if you told me what he says?”

“Just that you’re—you’ve known each other a while, and that you don’t mean to…” Wait, fuck, that probably isn’t something they should tell her. She catches on anyway.

“He’s one to talk,” she laughs. “Saying that I’m not good with people when he’s so naïve himself.”

“Yeah…” They shuffle awkwardly where they stand and neglect to say anything for a few agonizing moments. Safu catches on to their discomfort, and starts conversation up about something else.

She’s smart—like, _crazy_ smart, which is the polar opposite of Inukashi, and they can’t help but feel inferior and just a little bit childish while she talks, spewing essay after essay about something that interests her. Inukashi listens, but they don’t understand half of it.

Although, they have to admit, it’s kind of nice to not be in charge of the conversation. And watching her getting excited over something isn’t all that bad either. Her face lights up and the forced sense of superiority that seemed to follow her earlier falls away when she goes on about the brain and social cues, and all this stuff that Inukashi, under normal circumstances, could not give a shit about.

Somehow, she makes it interesting.                                

 

\--

 

Safu is almost as tall as Shion—which isn’t that tall in general, since Shion himself is probably only around 5’6”, but for Inukashi, who barley pushes 5’2”, it’s a lot. When they stand next to their friends (a title reluctantly given), they just hardly reach Safu’s shoulder, with Nezumi towering smugly over them. He uses their head as an armrest when the two are standing next to each other, and while he’s the only one who makes any comment on their height, even just that is annoying as all hell.

For some reason or another, Safu starts hanging out with the three more often, but Nezumi and Shion leave them and Safu alone about half the time (which Inukashi rolls their eyes at; the two are _disgusting_ when it comes to PDA, unsurprisingly), so they’re forced alone with her. Over the course of a month and a half, they somehow become acquainted with her, to the point where they can have a full conversation without stuttering _or_ wanting to sew their mouth shut forever.

In fact, it gets to be that they actually kind of like being around her. She’s nice and, under all her proper attitude she gives off, she’s got a surprisingly good sense of humor, and a pretty laugh to boot. She dominates most of their conversations for the first couple of weeks, which they can’t say they aren’t okay with, but they get to be where they’re comfortable contributing to conversation surprisingly quickly.

She’s good at explaining things too. When they ask her for help with schoolwork, their grades start showing a noticeable improvement. It’s kind of nice when she gets excited about them passing their Algebra test, and, if they’re honest, they like that she smiles and actually looks proud of them. It’s (almost) enough incentive to care about their grades.

When the two walk together, they have to tilt their head up just a little to meet her eyes, and she smiles, and it’s so weirdly _embarrassing_. She’s— _god,_ she’s _great_ and Inukashi feels so fucking _stupid_ for thinking about her like that, but, also, they’ve not been doing much of anything besides thinking about her for a while and _shit they’re screwed_.

 

\--

 

Nezumi catches on. His grin is predatory and smug, and Inukashi feels a little like throwing a lamp at his face.

“Get outta my room.”

He pushes off from the doorframe. “Really feeling the familial love.”

“What do you even _want_?” They’re lying on their bed on their stomach, feet in the air where they had been doing homework. The sun’s setting, and they have no idea what he wants to bother them about this time.

“You’re doing homework?”

“So what if I am?”

He raises an eyebrow. “You never do homework.”

“How would _you_ know, huh?” They throw a pillow at him. Annoyingly, he dodges.

“You’ve literally never studied a day in your life. What made you have such a drastic change of heart?”

They glare at him and try to ignore him, turning back to their textbook. “None of your damn business. Leave.”

“Safu’s been getting to you?”

“What?”

He gestures to the book. “You’ve been hanging out with her a lot recently.” His voice dips higher, into an uncanny impression of a loving mother’s. “Oh, I know! Did she _inspire_ you to get your act together?”

“Fuck off!” Another pillow narrowly misses his head, and he’s still grinning as he makes for the door. “And stop comin’ in without knockin’, you asshole!”

 

\--

 

It’s Shion who notices next.

“You’re going out with Safu this weekend?”

Inukashi glares, slamming their locker shut and standing up. They’re too short for a top locker. “Don’t make it sound so damn weird. And how’d you even find that out?”

“I was going to ask her if she wanted to see a movie this Saturday, like we used to, but she said she was already going with you.” He smiles. “I’m glad you two are getting along so well!”

They blush, knowing full well how it sounds, going to the movies with someone they’ve started to _get along_ with. “You can come too, if you wanna.”

He shakes his head, still smiling. “No, that’s alright, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“’Intrude’?”

“Yeah! I never would’ve expected you two would be…”

“…’Would be’…?”

Another shake of the head, this time with a laugh, waving the comment off. “Nothing, nothing, forget I said anything.”

They squint at him suspiciously. “Shion—“

“I’ll see you after class, okay?” He smiles. “And text me how the date goes!”

He hurries off, and they stand there in the middle of the hallway for a moment, stunned, before his parting words register.

“’ _Date’_?!”

 

\--

 

For better or for worse, Safu is the last one who notices.

The two are at their house, Nezumi out at play practice, and she’s trying to tutor him in Chemistry. She’s leaning over their shoulder to point at someone on their paper and brushing her hands against theirs while she points out the number of significant figures. They’re blushing, and they _know_ they’re blushing, and they’re _positive_ they aren’t going to remember any of this in another two seconds (how are they supposed to focus on the decimal places and the amount of zeros when she’s _right there_ and they can smell her perfume and they can feel her breath on their cheek and _lord help me_ ).

“Inukashi, are you paying attention?” Her voice brings them out of their thoughts, where they’d been staring at the freckle on her ring finger and the curve of her wrist.

“What? Oh, um, yeah, of course.”

They can feel her looking at them in that way of hers that says she’s about to expose what they’re thinking just from pointing out their body language. Analyzing, calculated. They pray that they’re not doing anything that would tip her off, but Inukashi has never been very good at hiding their emotions.

“Inukashi,” she says, voice like honey. “Look at me.”

They meet her eyes. She’s frowning just a little, and then seems to realize something before her face relaxes into a smile.

“You’re so stiff,” she says, eyes soft. “Relax a little, it’s just me.”

_That’s the whole damn problem_. “Yeah, sorry.”

The pair goes back to what they were doing for a good two minutes, before she lifts her head up, humming, and states, “You like me.”

If one can choke on air, they do. “ _What_?!”

“You like me,” she repeats bluntly, like she’s just stating an observation. “Your pupils are blown wide, and you keep fidgeting, and your pulse is quickening. Also, you’re not nearly as subtle about staring as you think you are.” She smiles as she speaks. Inukashi wants to fling themself into the sun.

“And, just to let you know, if you want it to be a date when we go out, you can just say it’s a date, there’s no need to—“

“Okay, I get it, you’ve noticed!” They snap, interrupting her. Their face feels hot, and they fight the urge to groan and slam their head into the desk. “ _Shit_ …”

“It doesn’t bother me,” she assures them. “In fact, I think I’m kind of happy about it.”

“ _Huh_?” They turn to look at her, and holy fuck when did she get so close?

“You’re not very…” She looks for the right word. “… _Observant_ , I would say—“

“Wow, thanks.”

“—so I don’t think you would’ve noticed this unless I flat out told you—“

“ _Wow_. _Thanks_.”

“—but I think I like you too.”

They blink. Twice. “ _What_?!”

“ _And_ I think I would like to go on an official date for the first time, if you’re interested.”

“Holy shit.”

She grins, looking just a little smug. “So?”

They struggle to form any coherent thought besides a variety of swear words. “Uh…”

Safu straightens up and takes a step back. _Wait, no, fuck, come back_ — “You don’t have to answer right now, of course. I should be going now anyway.” She makes for the door, nonchalant but her hands are shaking, just a little.

Inukashi grabs her hand without thinking about it. “Hold on, don’t go!”

She glances at where they’re touching, and they retreat their hand like it’d been burned, hoping their face isn’t as red as it feels. “Wait, I, um…”

“Yes?”

“I would…be okay, I-I guess…with us, you know. Going. On a date.” The words are forced, stuttered, and they half wish they hadn’t opened their mouth at all. _God_ , this is so embarrassing.

But then she smiles and nods, showing off white teeth and dimples, and Inukashi feels themself smile back.


End file.
